Skip to main content

Series Preview: Pirates at Phillies 5/16-5/17


The first place Phillies (23-13) return home this week to host the Pirates (16-21), who are in third place in the NL Central, five games behind the division leading Reds. The two teams will meet in a brief two game series.

Jimmy Rollins has been activated from the disabled list and Wilson Valdez, who is out of options, has been designated for assignment to make room on the roster. Rollins will see his first action at home this year. He injured calf during warm ups prior to the Phillies' home opener on April 12th. Rollins will bat third in the lineup.

The Phillies are 9-1 against the central division thus far this season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key details from this series.

Monday, 7:05pm. Charlie Morton (1-6, 9.19 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 5.89 ERA). Morton has a 4.00 ERA over his last three starts. In 2 career games against the Phils, Morton has allowed 7 earned runs in 8 innings pitched. Jimmy Rollins is 5-for-5 against Morton, with a double. Kendrick also has a 4.00 ERA over his last three starts. Kendrick is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts against the Pirates. Ryan Church is 5-9 (.511 avg) with a homer and 4 walks against Kendrick.

Tuesday, 7:05pm. Zach Duke (2-4, 5.56 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (6-1, 1.59 ERA). In 4 starts against the Phillies in his career, Duke is 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA. Duke won his first two starts of the season and has not won since then. Jayson Werth is 3-for-6 with a double a homer and 4 RBI against Duke. In 3 home starts this season, Halladay has posted a 3-0 record with a 1.13 ERA and a .207 batting avg. against. In 3 May starts, Halladay has a 1.21 ERA.

Andrew McCutchen is fourth in the National League with a .340 batting average. McCutchen's 5 homeruns lead the Pirates. He is batting .432 in May.

Pittsburgh closer Octavio Dotel has 7 saves and a 7.04 ERA this season. In 16 career games against the Phils, Dotel is 3-1 with a save and a 1.95 ERA.

Shane Victorino is batting .333 this month with a 1.097 OPS compared to a .226 avg. and a .650 OPS in April. Victorino, a switch hitter, is batting .357 against lefties, while posting a .237 avg. against right-handers.

In 30 games against the Pirates, Ryan Howard is a .160 hitter (16-for-100) with 3 homers and 15 RBI.

Chase Utley is expected to miss the series opener, out with flu-like symptoms.

In 52 career games against the Pirates, Jimmy Rollins is 72-for-210 (.343. avg) with 7 homers and 28 RBI. Rollins batted .259 in 79 home games last season.
---------------------------------

Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

Three's a crowd, Buster...Image- Jay Floyd For one New Jersey couple a unique meeting at the ballpark led to a new meaning for the term baseball diamond. Brian Parker spotted the woman of his dreams from the bullpen bench at Lakewood, NJ's FirstEnergy Park on July 9th, 2010. The right-handed reliever for the Orioles affiliate Delmarva Shorebirds wasn't summoned to pitch that night, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going through his usual warm up and stretching routines to inch closer to a young blonde Brick Township native that he felt drawn toward. "I was acting like I was staying hot, but really I was just trying to talk to her," Parker, a 19th round draft choice by Baltimore in 2007, stated. "I ended up putting my (phone) number on a baseball and we decided to hang out and throughout that whole next year it was back and forth trips between the both of us." The lady that caught Parker's eye was Kristin VanDeventer, who was ...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...